A high-speed network environment typically includes network devices such as routers and switches that facilitate delivery of information packets from source devices to destination devices. Information pertaining to the transfer of information packet(s) through the network is usually embedded within one or more packets. Each information packet traveling through a network can typically be handled independently from other packets in a packet stream. For example, each router within a network processes incoming packets and determines where the packet(s) should be forwarded. In a modern computing network environment, the speed of packet processing or routing can be critical in determining the performance of overall network system.
In a computing network environment, which may include one or more service providers' networks, input/output (“I/O”) ports on various nodes are occasionally tested for diagnostic purposes. Sometimes, the loops might be created accidentally due to reasons such as hardware and/or software failures. The occurrence of a loop condition at a port can potentially cause broadcast storms when, for example, multicast traffic gets looped back, and/or affect point-to-point network services. Broadcast storms typically take down a portion or an entire communications network and consequently affect overall system performance.
A conventional approach to detect a loop condition is to employ some standard diagnostic tools such as spanning tree protocol (“STP”) to identify loop condition in connection to a network service. A drawback associated with the conventional approach is that it is implemented at service level, wherein the service level loop detecting is typically difficult to isolate location of the loop(s) at the port level. For instance, if there is no bridging service on the port i.e. if the port is used for point-to-point services or IP service, STP may not be used to detect loop.